SEA KALE 173 



The plant was said to remove inequalities from the skin. When 

 cultivated it is sown on freshly -ploughed land, well prepared, well 

 pulverized, to produce large and good leaves, the plants being well 

 thinned out, and the soil stirred between them. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



37. Isatis tinctoria, L. Stem erect, tall, radical leaves oblong, 

 crenate, stalked, stem-leaves sessile, sagittate, flowers yellow, on slender 

 pedicels, deflexed in fruit, in a panicle, pouch obovate, i -seeded. 



Sea Kale (Crambe maritima, L.) 



There is, as usual in the case of most succulent plants, no instance 

 of the occurrence of this plant or its seeds in Glacial, earlier, or later 

 deposits. It is found generally from the coasts of Finland and the 

 Bay of Biscay to the Black Sea. Two hundred years ago it was 

 cultivated, and introduced to the Continent from Great Britain. It 

 occurs in N. and \\ . Ireland. In Great Britain it is absent from W. 

 Cornwall, S. Somersets, S. Essex, W. Norfolk, Carmarthen, Cardigan, 

 Denbigh, Flint, S. Lines, Durham, Northumberland, Cheviotland; and 

 in Scotland it is found only in Kirkcudbright, Wigtown, Ayr, Berwick, 

 Linlithgow, Fife, Clyde Islands, Cantire, Islay, Hebrides, but occurs 

 on the remaining coasts. It is on the decrease in some parts. It 

 is found in the Channel Islands. 



The wild form of Sea Kale, much used as a salad, is found on 

 sandy and shingly sea-coasts, and it is a halophyte or salt-lover. It 

 is also a xerophyte, though requiring moist conditions, and may be 

 called a strand plant. With it grow Sea Rocket, Sea Purslane, Sea 

 Milkwort, Sea Holly, and other maritime species. 



The first Latin name is the Greek for cabbage, with the habit 

 of which it agrees. It has a thick fleshy root, a stout stem much 

 branched, with wide, wavy, rounded leaves, toothed, and bluish-green. 

 The stem and leaves are smooth, and the plant is compact, and as 

 broad as long. It grows in clumps. 



The flowers are white, large, and distinct, in corymbs containing 

 several racemes, and much branched. The outer anther-stalks are 

 forked and long. The pods are blunt or egg-shaped, on ascending 

 flower-stalks, with two joints, one forming a flower-stalk, and there 

 is no style. 



Sea Kale grows to a height of 2 ft. The flowers are in bloom in 

 June, July, and August. The plant is perennial, increased by division. 



The diameter of the flowers is as much as 12 mm., and together 



